Dave Eggers Zeitoun Essay Papers

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Recommended: The impacts of hurricane katrina on new orleans

Kim Griffith
HIS 1400
Zeitoun
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers tells the story of a Muslim-American man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun and his family who were caught in the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina when it struck New Orleans in 2005. Katrina destroyed the entire city of New Orleans and took many lives along with it. However, the hurricane ultimately displayed the flaws in American policies. Dave Eggers book, Zeitoun, captures the failure of the government to handle the disaster effectively along with the ongoing "war on terror" in the United States. It quickly became apparent that the U.S authorities did little or nothing to help the citizens who remained in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The city was in ruin and Zeitoun became the …show more content…

Zeitoun first became aware of this issue when he saw eight men stealing from the Shell station. "This was an organized group of opportunists who were not simply taking what they needed to survive. They were stealing money and goods from the gas station, and they were operating in numbers that seemed designed to intimidate anyone." (Eggers 2009, 129). The looting continued because people were scared to intervene and the authorities showed no urgency to put an end to this issue. In addition, looting became the root of an even bigger problem for Zeitoun and his family. This term was falsely placed on Zeitoun and was the reason why six armed officers from the National Guard removed him from his …show more content…

He wasn't told why he was taken into custody but was more concerned about getting a phone call to Kathy because he knew she would be very worried. Zeitoun along with many others were placed in small cages and referred to them as giant kennels where dogs are kept. (Eggers 2009, 219). They were stripped searched, refused medical care, and ultimately denied their basic human rights. Moreover, Zeitoun learns that it was his race that lead to his arrest when a soldier says, "You guys are terrorists. You're Taliban." (Eggers 2009, 222). His worst fear finally became the reality. All Zeitoun wanted to do was to contact Kathy to let her know he was still alive, but instead he was trapped in a case of discrimination related to the ongoing "war on terror" because he was

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